A matter of differing opinion

In the storm of anger over Chip Tsao’s tactless, but candid, reference to the Filipinos as a “nation of servants”, one didn’t give it a damn, or any importance, except for a shrug of the shoulders. After all, it’s but a repeat in déjà vu fashion of similar hurt pride and pique when some new editions of American dictionary listed “Filipino/Filipina” to mean household domestic.

Avid readers of romance fiction of the Mills and Boon genre, or of espionage/action/mystery novels may notice that among the US southern gentry and “can afford” Yankee manors almost always have a Filipino valet, or a chef, or Filipina cook.

And perhaps, with early Filipinos exposed to American educational system by the pioneering Thomasites, and later followed by the exodus of pineapple and sugar cane “sacadas” to Hawaii, the Americans had been enamored by the passable, as yet pidgin, English of the Pinoys to serve as their domestics.

Even the trivial “dig” by Terri Hatcher of the “Desperate Housewives” tv sitcom on the indirect slur against Filipino physicians, had Pinoys angrily clamoring for apologies. As late as now, the “nation of servants” coined by Chip Tsao is still a hot topic in tv talk shows, in grape vine and opinion columns. His mea culpa has been dismissed as insincere, as if only Tsao’s hanging could assuage hurt feelings.

Filipina domestics in Hong Kong especially, cued by leftist Gabriela, had demonstrated and paraded their denunciations for alleged racism. It appears that nothing can appease their over-sensitivity, and hate being called domestics or servants.

A few movies and tv short reels have been churned out, capitalizing on Filipina housewives and maidens leaving their families as DH abroad resulting in broken relationships… But, what is very perplexing is, why many until now are still hotly incensed by Chip Tsao’s faux pas, if it were. Was he telling a blatant lie in his attribution of a “nation of servants”? Or, was he just brutally frank to call a spade, yes, a spade? Or, was his blunder triggered by his being straight-forward and forthright sans refinement of language?

It’s said that truth often hurts, especially when it comes from strangers. Perhaps, if it were any Pinoy who bandies, even jestingly, that we are a nation of domestics, others may join the chorus without a tinge of indignity.

Hasn’t the national leadership boasted that the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), the greater women workforce being DH in foreign climes, constitute the silent national heroes whose $15 B monthly remittance has stabilized the country’s dollar reserve? Time and again, OFWs are flattered with such platitude and, the country takes pride that many women OFWs are college graduates who work as foreign servants without loss of face. After all, dignity of labor is edifying and ennobling as long as honest toil is aptly rewarded.

Chip Tsao had many a chance taken a peek at Filipino DH congregating in the Hong Kong plaza every Sunday. Gregarious and a jolly group, they are often caught on tv with no appearance of inferiority complex or diminution of dignity. And replicate that scenario in other cities of the world, would likely depict an accurate picture.

Other nations could have wondered why college graduates and professionals have to spend a fortune and go through the college grind, only to work as domestic helpers abroad. Anyway, regardless of the imbroglio, one also wonders why there has been no outcry and outrage over a truly shaming ignominy of being ranked as the most corrupt country in Asia and one of top ten in the world!

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